Factors Affecting Enthusiasm of Farmers in Attending Training for Alternative to Dicofol

The technology of integrated pest management (IPM) is oriented to integrate biological, agronomic and physical means in pest control, so as to rationalize the use of chemical pesticides, lower agricultural production cost, protect farmers’ health and eco-environment. With the progress of industrialization and urbanization, China has seen her agricultural labor force aging and feminized. How China can sustain her agricultural production to meet the growing demand for food is a challenge to the country but also to the world. By making use of the data available from the joint project “demonstration for use of IPM technology as alternative and control of the production of DDT containing dicofol in China” initiated by UNDP and the Ministry of Environment Protection of China, systems analysis was conducted of main factors affecting enthusiasm of farmers to attend IPM training. Results show that scale of the farming is the major factor, while gender and age is not. The more trainings the farmers attend, the more likely they are to adopt IPM technique. Farmers training courses should attract more aged and female farmers into the training for alternative to dicofol and adoption of IPM technique.